Deep Within, Scratching the Surface
by Odd5
Summary: Ever since the Deep, Jim is feeling weird. Then one day, he touches the Decimaar sword.


_Toby gasps, ''What if Strickler's one of them?''_

 _''Strickler's been teaching teaching history at Arcadia Oaks High since the dawn of history,'' Jim scoffs and rolls his eyes._

'' _ **If he's one, I'm one.**_ ''

'Oh sweet, sweet innocence,' Jim thinks, curled into a ball while hiding behind his bedroom's door as his mom called his name.

It had began shortly after his descent into the deep. His body started aching, lighly at first but gradually becoming more painful. Jim assumed the soreness came from all the stress about Draal under Gunmar's control, queen Usurna's betrayal and the invasion of trollmarket. Then, having to hide the trolls survivers and planning how to take out Gunmar.

Jim had stopped paying attention to the increasing pain, only wincing every once in a while. Toby and Claire asks about it a few times and Jim always says he's fine, or change the subject to urgent matters. Though, that doesn't mean his best friend stops throwing him worried glances over his shoulder, which makes the trollhunter feel even more guilty.

He had his own doubts about what was happening to him. The deep merely showed him his worst fears, or so he thought. Signs he hadn't noticed before were showing; how his eyes glowed a light blue in the dark but gone within a blink or how his arms and legs feels heavier than he ever remembered. And that was without mentionning the aches that keeps on coming back, now spreading all over his muscles. However, the turning point was when he started training with Nomura and Strickler in their changeling forms. Jim watched them closely now, how they fought, walked and the way they talked. He even poked Strickler's arm one time to see how his skin felt (he got a weird look and a raised eyebrow at that, but it was better than trying this with Nomura, since he didn't know if she resented him for getting together with her ex).

Finally, they defeat Gunmar. The battle had been tough, Jim's body throbbing with tension as he watches Gunmar turn to stone. The trollhunter swung his sword once again and Gunmar's remains rolls on the ground into multiple pieces. Jim placed his sword onto his back and goes to pick up the Decimaar sword but barely has time to touch it before pain rings through his entire body, making him scream in agony. He faints as he hear his friends yell his name, his mind fading to the sound of their steps coming closer.

When he wakes up, everything is dark. Jim is nervous at first, but quickly recognize his bedroom and the softness of his bed. He relaxes, groaning at how sore he feels. He looks at his digital clock and realise it's the middle of the night and decide to grab himself a glass of water, his throat dry. Jim pushes himself up on his arms then gasps as the pain comes back, stronger than ever before. He trips and fall on the floor, feeling as if he was stabbed on the side he fell on. He convulses, open his mouth but nothing no sounds comes out. It feels as if his bones were breaking, his skin tearing apart-

 _''You did this.'' Jim whispers, lowering his gaze._

 _''Gunmar is free, Trollmarket is in peril, and of all creatures in our worlds,''_

 _Merlin's voice echoes thorough the museum's walls._

 _'' **I chose you.** ''_

His vision is blurry as he comes to himself. Jim understands he collapsed again, blinking against the morning light that now fills the room. He puts his weight on his arm to raise himself up and that's when he notices. The pain, the soreness... It's all gone. But something replaced it. Blue.

His skin is blue.

Jim jerks up, sitting up on his knees and his eyes look over his body. His skin is deep blue, markings runs into the stone now covering his body and there's sharp looking claws at the tip of his fingers. He also knows his legs are shaped differently, since he's sitting on his ankles.

Jim starts to have trouble breathing and feels cold settle inside him. He shivers and his shoulders become stiff. Jim hunches over himself, thoughts rushing through his head, his young brain not knowing how to handle such situation. Life seemed to make his choice for him, Jim's eyes widening as he hears his mother walk up the stairs. Whatever's happening, he couldn't let her see this! He looks around and hides behind his door, putting his hand over his mouth to silence his harsh breathing.

His mother enters the room and she gasps, not seeing her son anywhere. She calls his name in a worried voice, glancing around before going back down the stairs. Jim hears her pick up her car keys and slam the front door and he guesses she's going to ask Toby, Claire and the school where her son is.

Jim quickly makes his way to the bathroom, though he has to put his hand on the wall to support himself since his legs keeps tripping over themselves. He reaches the mirror and nearly falls backward at the strange sight that welcomes him. Jim's eyes are still light blue, but the form of his pupils are just like a snake's. Unlike Strickler and Nomura, his pupils doesn't fill the white of his eyes. His hair and nose stayed the same, his fangs from his lower jaw picks out from his lips and the top of his ears are longer, like an elf from the fantasy games he sometimes play with Toby.

Jim's breathing had quickened and he forces himself to inhale and exhale slowly, reducing his heart rate. He set his (stone) hands on the edge of the sink, gripping it tightly. What is he supposed to do now? Tell Blinky should be the obvious choice, but he still remembers how the troll treated him when he believed him to be a changeling, as if he was something disgusting... It might have been in another world created by Merlin but it didn't mean Blinky would react nicely even if he knew him.

Strickler? His ex-teacher had redeemed himself by saving his mom's life and came back to help him stop Gunmar. Even after all of this, he was still the changeling who used Jim's mother as a shield. Jim couldn't share something this big with him.

Toby, Claire? ...Was Draal even alive?

Jim signed and forced himself to not go there. His loss to Gunmar had ripped him inside and knowing if the fate of his boyfriend had ended tragically... He couldn't take it. Not right now.

 _''How did you survive the Deep?'' Claire asks, hugging him._

 _''No trolls ever come back.''_

 _'' **But I'm not a troll**.'' Jim responds,_

 _though his voice sounds shaken._

 _No one mentions it._

His mom finally retreated after pounding at his bedroom's door for the last 10 minutes and Jim was glad he had pushed his bookcase in front of his door. Toby called him on the talkie-walkie and Jim had ressorted to texting because he had discovered he now hissed like a snake and his voice was gravely (and he had to cough while talking to his mom to camouflage it, even if he knew this trick didn't work with her ever since he turned 7).

He had shut his curtains and hid in room for the whole day, trying to keep himself calm and think of who to talk to about his predicament. His mom left an hour ago to go to the hospital, so when he suddenly hears the stairs creak under someone's heavy weight, he instantly grabs his amulet and listens. The person walks up to stand on the bedroom's threshold and knocks rasply on the door.

''Fleshbag?''

Jim's breath gets caught in his throat and he forces his voice out, ''Draal?!''

The troll stay silent for a few second before he talks again, ''Jim, is that you? You sound-.''

''Oh my god, you're alive!'' The trollhunter shouts and gets up from his bed but he apparently forgot about his new legs and trips, making a ruckus. At the strong noise, Draal forces the door open and finds a slender blue troll on the floor, his legs entangle with the bed sheets and the amulet of daylight in his hand. Jim looks up and smile sheepishly at Draal's unreadable face, ''Don't make it weird.''


End file.
